After reading one of the articles on casting light lines(3wt.) and the 7.5 ft. rod and the extraordinary distances obtained, or said to be able to obtain(15-25 feet) I was rather shocked, if I had a fly rod that would only cast that distance I would throw it away.
I took my trusty 5.5 ft. rod and it's 4 wt. line to the pond, used an elkhair caddis and managed to launch it about 70 feet.
After a few more practice shots I managed somewhere between 85 and 90 feet-putting a yarn fly on substantially reduced the distance.
Now hauling and double-hauling was much in evidence here, and its a hard thing to get that short rod to load, I even think that 7 wt. line works pretty well on this rod, just kind of another experiment, but back to the casting, I think you could probally squeeze a little more than 25 feet out of a 3 wt, just get used to the rod and the way it casts, practice, practice...

You threw a complete 4w flyline down to the backing with a 5 1/2' graphite rod?
You're a hell of a lot better caster than I am.

No actually I didn't throw it down to the backing because I needle-knotted an extra 45 feet of level fly-line to the level portion of the origal line
What it amounts to is I have a 127 foot fly line on my reel- no danger of throwing all of that line off the reel!
I don't exactly remember the occasion why I added the extra line, something says I had the same reel on another rod about 7 feet long (thanks to a car door it is now 6 and a half feet long,) I was casting over a hundred feet with that rod. I have several rod and reel combinations with extra fly-line added, thats just me...

Why do they call Lefty, Lefty?
Maybe because he's left-handed...some of his casting discs don't indicate that...I viewed one and he indicated you will cast this way or that way but you can only do that left-handed, and you are certainly not going to teach your-self to cast left-handed WRONG...I have taught my-self to cast left-handedI can almost get 100 feet...My accuracy is better in some instancesthan my right hand, sometimes the loops are smaller and prettier...but you can teach your self to cast with the opposite hand...

Practice...practice...practice...the 5.5 ft. rod was kind of a specialty rod, I have two of these rods, one a 3-4 wt. and the other a 4-5 wt. and I use one reel... with 4 wt. line on it...it seems I end up in the real small creeks and catch rainbows and speck's with it...(southern Appalachian brook trout) real easy to handle in the grown-up conditions of which I fish.
How did you come up with a rod that is 5 foot 3?... sounds like my old girl-friend!

It is a Fenwick 2pc. 4/5 (from Curtis I guess). I took it out last night and it was breezy. Even double hauling, both the old man and myself could only get about 75'. I have just never heard of ANYONE casting over 100' of line with a 5' rod, but I guess anything is possible.
Even a friend of mine who is in the process of being certified would have difficulty squeezing 100+' out of a five.

No actually I didn't throw it down to the backing because I needle-knotted an extra 45 feet of level fly-line to the level portion of the origal line
What it amounts to is I have a 127 foot fly line on my reel- no danger of throwing all of that line off the reel!
I don't exactly remember the occasion why I added the extra line, something says I had the same reel on another rod about 7 feet long (thanks to a car door it is now 6 and a half feet long,) I was casting over a hundred feet with that rod. I have several rod and reel combinations with extra fly-line added, thats just me...

So, you have a 4w line actually 127 feet long (90' line with 45' of level should be 135' in reality). And no backing, is that correct? All fit's on a 4w spool. What reel is it you're using. And if it's true you can throw that far, you should be doing it professionally. I think you'd give Steve Raejeff a run for his money. I'd like to see what you could do with a 9' 5w rod. You should be hucking in the 150' range.